AAPI students continue to advocate for Asian American Studies despite cuts

Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) : the current protest movement in this moment

Photos by Krystle Pasco

By Erin Pangilinan

Throughout the University of California (UC) this week, students, staff, and faculty walked out due to the lack of transparency with the University of California Office of the President (UCOP). See spamfriedrice post.

While UC Berkeley Chancellor mass e-mailed recognition of the peaceful demonstration echoing the campus’s historic Free Speech Movement, what is marginalized (as usual) are the contributions of students of color.

Next to San Francisco State University (SFSU), UC Berkeley is second to the pioneers in initiating Ethnic Studies, it is home to the Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) and Asian American Political Alliance (AAPA) of the 1960s. TWLF and AAPA alumni recently mourned the loss of former Black Panther Party Member, Richard Aoki, the Party’s leading Asian American member. Former UC Berkeley History graduate student, Yuji Ichioka coined the term, “Asian American,” and the panethnic identity remains nationally.

The protest marks a more notable solidarity between students, faculty, and staff beyond one UC [at least since the 1999 Berkeley third world liberation front (twLF) strikes against budget cuts to the Ethnic Studies Department with the late Emeritus Professor Ronald Takaki.]

If rising tuition rates make it more difficult for students to attend school, coupled with continual budget cuts, students ask themselves when it will ever feasible to establish fields of study relevant to underrepresented communities of color. Ethnic Studies has historically been continuously under attack.

Last year, the University of California Students Association (UCSA) Pilipino/a Caucus prioritized Pilipin@ Studies as a top issue.

UC Berkeley has revived Committee for Philippine Studies (COMPASS), a group advocating for Pilipino/a Studies at Cal. COMPASS gave the Walk-Out global solidarity, gaining support from the University of the Philippines, Workers Union | All U.P. Academic Employees Union. Lean Deleon, Associated Students of University of California, Berkeley Senator says that the taking a stand at the walk out “reminds the public university of California to open its doors to the public…”

Deleon’s tone rings familiar with addressing the Master Plan for Higher Education,

“and because there is a substantial number of AAPI in California, the university should really reflect its population and give access to these groups that have historically been denied admissions. Taking a stand also means that we are not the apathetic model minority that stereotypes us. Just because we are in education doesn't mean we can’t appreciate our privilege while still advocating for education to be a right, and not a privilege.”

[See Count-Me-In campaign for more details on disaggregation and shattering the model minority myth.]

Deleon continues “The budget cuts doesn't mean we should stop demanding the university to offer valid education or be content with where we are in academia, but we should always constantly be pushing for the studies that its students want. It is in times of uncomfortably like budget cuts, that the students progress through innovation.”

Last year, UC Berkeley Asian languages were under attack particularly: Chinese, Japanese, and Korean under the East Asian Languages and Cultures and Tagalog, Tamil, Thai, Hindi in the Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies. Additionally at UCLA faced drastic cuts to Chinese Korean, Japanese, and Southeast Asian in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures.

As classes continue to be reduced, class size increase, and lecturers are without any job security, students responded by forming group at Cal, Asian Pacific Islander Languages and Education NOW! (APIEL) to save the Asian languages.

UC Santa Cruz (UCSC) remains to be the only UC campus without an established Ethnic Studies program, pathway, department (this includes Asian American, Chican@, and African American/Black Studies, excluding the existing flailing Latin American Latino Studies).

In response to cuts a various cuts to lecturers in Latin American Latino Studies, a restructuring of Community Studies, lack of staff for the American Indian Resource and Women’s Centers on campus, among other demands, students went on a hunger strike echoing the 1980s Third World And Native American Student Coalition (TWANAC) for a number of days earlier this year by the UCSC Students of Color Collective (UCSC SOCC) shows the continuous fight toward creating an Ethnic Studies department.

Other programs hit under the radar

Attractive internship and research-based programs, University of California Center Sacramento (UCCS) program may be shutting down by the end of the year and the University of California Washington D.C. (UCDC) program, is undergoing discussions of restructuring.

Skeptics may continue to ask how effective are the series of demonstrations? And when will the Administration, University of California Office of the President (UCOP) respond to student, staff, and faculty needs? Will they lower tuition? Will they restore funding to vital programs on campus that have been cut for the ‘sake of efficiency?’ How will we continue hold UC accountable to its basic mission statement to provide public service if it continues to become corporatized? How will UC it maintains its highest quality and is accessible to students of all backgrounds?

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